Characteristics of Stratification System - Essay Example

Fourthly, distinction through a form of inequality such as class, status, and power defines the stratification system. Fifthly, the inequality distinction has certain levels which may be low in less advanced stratification system, high in systems such as caste and slave societies while a mild level exists in medium stratification societies (UVAWISE para.3). Ascription and achievement are means through which members of the stratification rise through the ranks to acquire a defined position in the society.

While certain stratification systems emerge due to attainment, others are acquired by natural belongingness to a specific class of the society. For instance, a notion that slaves are likely to beget slaves may make it difficult to rise up the stratification system. Legitimation is the inherent consent and acceptance of the society that the leaders of the stratification system bear the apparent right to occupy higher statuses. In a power stratification system, for instance, members of the governed community have undoubted consent that those in positions of power, thereby donating legitimacy to their existence.

Four social systems emerge from legitimation and they include elites, regimes, political economies and value systems (UVAWISE para.3).